Andre Iguodala is going to suit up for the Miami Heat soon. As has been reported on a few occasions over the last day, Iguodala will be traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Heat. This has been a long time coming, as the Grizzlies and Iguodala agreed for the veteran swingman to stay at home after the team acquired him over the summer, with Memphis telling him it would work to find him a new place to play.
The deal came to fruition after a pair of Grizzlies youngsters expressed their frustrations regarding Iguodala earlier this week. Dillon Books and Ja Morant made it pretty clear they did not want him on the team anymore if he didn’t want to be there. They wanted him traded so they could show him what “Memphis is all about.”
Iguodala kept quiet on what the Grizzlies had to say about him, but after the trade, he broke his silence in an interview with The Undefeated. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to fire back, but he instead chose to avoid the conflict and talk about how much he likes what Memphis is doing.
You got to take everything with a grain of salt. Rules shift from time to time across generations. There is a 10- [to] 15-year age difference. They don’t move how we move and the same wasn’t said about us when we were that age. ‘What are young guys doing now? What is respectful now?’ … It’s different.
So, I don’t look at it as personal. I don’t know if it’s from them. But the only thing I will tell them is that I love them. Those are my guys. [DeMar] DeRozan said Lou Williams. He said Lou is my brother and he would give him his last dollar. I feel the same way about every player in this league. I felt the same way about those two guys. Ja is going to be rookie of the year and he is playing amazing basketball. I’ve been watching him this year even though I knew we’d never be teammates. This guy is a talent.
It’s funny to see Iguodala talk about how much he likes all of these young players while also knowing he would never suit up alongside them. He can fully acknowledge their talent while not being a teammate, but those comments are probably not going to get him on the good side of Morant and Brooks any time soon.
